The theme of General Synod 27 is "Immerse Yourself". What you see here is the amazing creation of Alexandra Childs, a pastor at First Congregational Church of Alameda, CA. This display, which is amazing up close and personal used 4 tons of stone, 200 gallons of water (to fill the 8x8 foot immersion pool up on the stage) and 50 live plants.This first official day of General Synod has been a true immersion in the joys and the challenges of what the next few days will be about.
Some of the joys: catching up with old friends and making new ones; cookies, cookies and more cookies (I had 6 today...); hearing from the General Minister and President Elect, Rev. Geoffrey Black; honoring the life and ministry of Rev. Joseph H. Evans, the third president of the UCC and its first African American President; the presentation of congregations that have joined the UCC since last General Synod and the introduction of the slogan "Vital Congregations Multiply"; worship led by the choirs and dance ministries of Trinity, UCC in Chicago and preaching by Rev. Otis Moss, Jr., their pastor.
The primary challenge of this General Synod centers the process of finding a way to structure our denomination that will support the ministry we are called to do without being too cumbersome and that will ensure that all of the diverse and varied voices of our wider church are represented at the table.
The original plan was to have a proposed new structure to present to this General Synod that the delegates would hopefully approve so that the national church could do the Constitution and By-laws work that would implement this new structure. The proposed structure is called "Single Governance" and involves moving from 4 covenanted ministries with 4 separate boards plus the Executive Council toward a single governing body that would plan for and represent all of the ministries and boards of the entire church.
From what I can tell, the process of moving from the current structure to the development of a proposed new structure was deeply flawed in some way - or at least it feels to some that it was deeply flawed. Concerns about the planning process that produced the Single Governance plan led one of the covenanted ministries to vote against the proposal at its Spring meeting thereby halting the entire process at the 11th hour.
We had our first opportunity today as delegates to get more information about this process and its breakdown and to discuss in principal whether or not we affirm a single governance model for the UCC.
From the session I attended it is clear that this process has caused great division, pain and fear among those who have been directly involved. The groups that seem particularly concerned about it are those groups in the UCC that are referred to as the Historically Underrepresented Groups or HUGS - groups like PAAM (Pacific and Asian American Ministries); COREM (Council of Racial and Ethnic Minorities); United Black Christians, and others. There are cries of the process being racist and pleas to scrap the entire process and start all over again.
Since I am new to this discussion and have very little information on which to weigh these issues it feels like we delegates are being brought into a family fight at the last minute without adequate information to weigh the pros and cons and make a reasonable and rational decision about what should happen.
On the one hand it makes a lot of "head" sense to restructure our denomination - we're in decline, we don't have a lot of money, the current structure is unwieldy (285 people serve on the various boards and committees of the national church! The new structure would have a single board of 85 people).
On the other hand it is clear that this process has caused a lot of pain. One woman from PAAM who was in our meeting was on the verge of tears as she pleaded for delegates to hear what she had to say about PAAM's concerns with the new structure and with the process that led to this new structure and their reasons for voting against the proposal.
It is hard to say where this discussion will lead and I'm actually not even sure yet what will ultimately come to the floor for a vote but I invite your prayers for us as we try to sort out all the passionate and competing voices and with grace, love, compassion and humility move through this process with one another.
One thing is for sure, these hurts go deep and are not just about this one thing but about the pain of racism, sexism, elitism, classism as it has been experienced in our church but also in the wider culture.
Tomorrow begins with breakfast at 6:30 a.m. Each Conference delegation gathers with itself to share a meal and receive further input on the Single Governance issue. After breakfast it's River City Saturday, an all day festival of speakers, workshops, performances and fun. I'm looking forward to it all and am still feeling incredibly blessed just to be here.
Until tomorrow,
Tisha
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